Cake Mistress Finds Her Origins

January 24, 2010

A post for my Mum

Me & Mum, second birthday

This is a pretty weird hobby, food blogging. Baking something beautiful, painstakingly documenting the process for posterity, then virtually destroying what you created (although the eating part isn’t so bad, really). Where on earth did this come from?

Well, I found my answer.

Digging through old family photos while home for the holidays, I came across pictures from our birthdays when we were much younger. Mum had made all our cakes.

All of them beautiful.

All of them photographed.

One Year Old: Number One

I remember each of these birthdays. Before the big day, Mum would hand us kids the Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake Book.

Me looking pretty chuffed. What two year old wouldn’t be please with this much cake in front of them?

I remember agonising over each glossy page. Which cake do I want this year? The princess? The ballerina? The butterfly?

Five Years Old: Beautiful Butterfly

My sister’s birthday: Humpty Dumpty. Humpty is made from carboard and an egg

Three Years Old: hickory-dickory dock

Now that was a pretty great cake. Look at all that sugar! Not surprised by my choice there.

Me in a fetching blue jumper. Haircut by Mum.

There were even cartoon characters:

Four Years Old: Minnie Mouse

My sister couldn’t go past the Paintbox, though I suspect the high chocolate/lolly count similarly had something to do with it

A gorgeous Dolly Varden

Little Miss Muffet


This cake blows my mind. Each flower petal is handmade from marshmallow

Six Years Old: Basket of Flowers

It would have been so fiddly and time consuming to put together, but whichever cake we chose, Mum would recreate.

Me in another fetching jumper. I believe we’ve added a mullet this year. Mum: stop cutting my hair!


Strawberry Shortcake FTW!

Hello the 80s. I see you have delivered yet another crazy jumper and mullet.

This is my 7th Birthday and last cake. From here, I graduated to parties with my school friends featuring the gelatinous icecream cake from Macca’s Kids Birthdays and then the gelatinous goop served at the dessert bar at Sizzler.

I think all these cakes are amazing.

Thanks Mum!

Love ya
xx

PS. Awesome news: I have found Mum’s ratty old copy of the Children’s Birthday Cake Book. So very excited. I’ll be posting the how-to’s for these cakes in forthcoming posts :)

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  • Ha ha!! So many memories, (fellow Aussie here (Sydney)). I also had a Dolly Varden cake and my younger brother had the Humpty Dumpty cake! Not to mention Sizzler! Great post!

  • Ha ha!! So many memories, (fellow Aussie here (Sydney)). I also had a Dolly Varden cake and my younger brother had the Humpty Dumpty cake! Not to mention Sizzler! Great post!

  • Love this! Thanks for sharing the great pictures :) Looking forward for more posts on the AWW Birthday Cake Cook Book.

  • Love this! Thanks for sharing the great pictures :) Looking forward for more posts on the AWW Birthday Cake Cook Book.

  • Thank you! There are so many beautiful memories and it was such a joy finding those pictures. My cake obsession is starting to make sense :)
    More AWW Cake Book posts are on the way :D

  • Thank you! There are so many beautiful memories and it was such a joy finding those pictures. My cake obsession is starting to make sense :)
    More AWW Cake Book posts are on the way :D

  • That is so awesome!
    I have similarly become a cake maker in my apartment building. I know that my love of doing this for my neighbours and mates harks back to the days of watching my mums preparation of our birthday cakes and the selections we made from the book.
    My mother, bless her, even managed a No.4 cake for my birthday when we were camping in Victoria one special year!
    I’m hiitting her up for the magic book as we speak!
    Love your creations!

  • That is so awesome!
    I have similarly become a cake maker in my apartment building. I know that my love of doing this for my neighbours and mates harks back to the days of watching my mums preparation of our birthday cakes and the selections we made from the book.
    My mother, bless her, even managed a No.4 cake for my birthday when we were camping in Victoria one special year!
    I’m hiitting her up for the magic book as we speak!
    Love your creations!

  • You might like this facebook page: (if you haven’t already found it!)
    “The Women’s Weekly Birthday Cake book is awesome”

  • You might like this facebook page: (if you haven’t already found it!)
    “The Women’s Weekly Birthday Cake book is awesome”

  • Thanks for the heads-up. Will check out the group for fellow Birthday Cake Book fans :)

  • Thanks for the heads-up. Will check out the group for fellow Birthday Cake Book fans :)

  • Pingback: 32 « The Mustard Jumper

  •  my mum had this book too (dad made the cakes she couldn’t cook). I remember having the butterfly cake for my 6th birthday. I have three sisters and everyone but the second oldest had a dolly varden cake. So for her birthday last year she finally got one (she is 34). this is such a great website i’m glad to have found it.

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